Smartphone Skin Cancer Apps Labelled Dangerous

Hey there Guys. This morning I was alerted of new research that highlights the danger of using skin cancer apps to help check moles and diagnose potential skin cancers, in particular melanomas.

In the study four skin cancer apps were tested with 128 pictures of moles, 60 of which were melanomas.

Three of the apps were based on a computed algorithm with dangerously low accuracy. At best two apps pick up 7 out of 10 melanomas, at worst only 1 of the 60 images of melanoma were correctly identified.

Terry Slevin education and research director at the Cancer Council of Western Australia believes the idea is “appealing”, but warned the public against using them.

“Relying solely upon the app is potentially dangerous,” he said.

Dangerous cases of melanoma were incorrectly identified as being safe in more than 30 per cent of incidents examined in the study which measured the performance of four smartphone programs.

Guys, melanoma can be deadly. Use of any skin cancer apps that delays proper diagnosis and treatment is dangerous.

I urge you to get regular skin checks by a trained professional. In some cases it can be a matter of life and death, would you leave that risk in the hands of an app developer?